Star of the Ball
by barneynigella
Summary: This is a Cinderella story told with Harry Potter Characters. Harry is Cinderella, Draco is our Prince. AU Please Review x there will be other familiar faces xxx
1. Chapter 1

**Star of the Ball**

**This is a Harry PotterXCinderella. Harry is Cinderella, Draco is our Prince. AU Please Review x **

**I would like to thank my friend Sophie, for being my editor. Love You Sophie**

How do you begin a story? Oh I remember...

Once upon a time, there was happy little family down in Godrics Hollow. There was a very happy man called James Potter and his very happy wife Lily Potter nee Evans. They had a very happy son called Harry James Potter. One fateful night, the family's happiness would be ended for good.

On one fateful Halloween night, when Harry was merely one years old, a mad man was in Godrics Hollow and broke in to the Potter family home. He murdered James on the stairs and murdered Lily next to her son. Little Harry cried for his mother so loudly that people passing in the street heard the commotion, they got into the house and saved little Harry's life although he did have a scar, a lightning bolt across his forehead. As James had no family, Harry went to the only family he had. He went to live with his Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon, they agreed to take him on as they would inherit one of the many Potter manner houses. Harry had a cousin just a few months older than him called Dudley.

His family didn't care for him at all, instead of looking after him like they were supposed to, they simply turned him into nothing more than a servant. He slept in the cupboard under the stairs and did almost every job in the house. Although most people in town knew him and about how he lived, most people wouldn't do a thing to help him because they worried about the Dursley's.

Harry did, however, have a friend whose name was Ron Weasley, he came to the Dursley's house once a week to help Harry out when the Dursley's were absent. Sometimes, he'd bring along his sister Ginny. Although being younger than Harry and them being friends, Ginny found herself attracted to Harry but she had no idea how to tell him. Ron had to go away to work with his Dad, Ginny promised to keep coming to help Harry out, but it wouldn't be the same without his friend Ron.

Harry was cleaning the house as he did every day. He had just finished scrubbing the floor when the doorbell rang. Harry got up from where he was and went to answer the door. When he answered the door, he was surprised to see the Royal Adviser Severus Snape at the door. He looked at Harry and then smiled as Harry offered him to come inside, but he really just wanted to get the job over and done with. But luck was not on his side, as Petunia had seen him and was not going to let him leave any time soon.

She pushed Harry away from the door, he fell to the floor, got up and headed towards the kitchen, he knew this routine. He would go and find the best china, then wash it to make sure it was clean. After this he would boil the water, arrange the silver tray then fill the teapot and then Petunia would come down to collect it. She would go upstairs and act like the perfect house wife. Severus Snape however was not convinced and would report on what he saw back at the castle.

Petunia did indeed follow this routine and when she got back to her guest (although Severus would probably say prisoner), she engaged him in conversation.

"So what brings you here?" Petunia asked with a sickly sweet voice.

"I'm here on royal business, my orders are to deliver invitations to the masquerade ball that will be happening in 3 days' time!" Severus stated sounding emotionless.

"May I ask why there is to be a ball? "Petunia enquired.

"The ball is being held so Prince Draco may find a partner, for people like yourself there will be rooms at the castle, now I really must go. Good day Madam." He suddenly stood and left before Petunia could say another word. Harry was already at the door waiting for Severus, both exchanged pitying looks. Severus pitied Harry because he had to live with her and Harry pitied Severus because he had been stuck with Petunia's pretending and acting.

As soon as he had been able to leave he did. He gave Harry the 4 invitations and left to continue his duties. As soon as the front door was shut, Petunia grabbed the invitations from Harry's hands and ran off to start getting everything ready for the ball. She rushed up stairs and got herself ready for a shopping trip, she left a note for Dudley and Vernon, saying she had gone shopping and she had taken Harry with her, to carry anything she might buy.

Petunia went in to every dress shop in town, she wanted to find the best dress to outshine everyone else in attendance. She then went to see the tailor to see if a suit could be made for Dudley to wear that would look slimming. The tailor already had measurements as all of Dudley's clothes had to be tailor made. Vernon was also having a suit made. Harry of course wasn't going to be going, and Petunia certainly wasn't going to waste her money on Harry.

Petunia wasn't the only person in town getting ready for the ball. Everyone in town had the same idea. Needless to say every dress was already sold, as were most suits, the tailor was already busy but he knew better than to get on the Dursley's bad side.

Petunia went back to the house and started going through her wardrobe, but nothing was good enough, so she decided that she would just have to adapt some of her dresses for the occasion. Of course she wouldn't do it herself, she would have Harry do it for her. She was going to need at least one change of clothes, Harry could stay at home for a few days by himself. She got out a lot of dresses and shouted for Harry.

"HARRY!" she screamed for the third time "There you are boy! I have a job for you, I need you to adapt these dresses ready for a party. Got it! Good. Go."

Harry grabbed the dresses and went down stairs to the kitchen to get on with it. Harry was pretty much useless at sewing. Normally if he was given a sewing job, which wasn't often, Ginny would do it for him. But chances are Ginny was too busy getting herself ready for the ball. He knew how to sew at a very basic level but not nearly as much as Ginny, so Harry took the dresses apart and started to re-sew the dresses together in a new style. After 3 hours he looked at the dresses and knew he had ruined them. His Aunt was going to kill him. But he was too tired to stay awake any longer and he fell asleep with his head on the table. He was so tired he didn't notice that the back door was in fact wide open.

Ginny arrived for her visit to see Harry, granted she was late but her house was very busy and she had many things to do. When she got to the house, she came in the back door as usual and saw Harry had fallen asleep on the table. She then noticed Harry's attempt at the dresses. She decided to re-start and finish the dresses. She decided that Harry looked too tired to be woken up. She thought he looked cute while he was dreaming. When she had finished the dresses, she smiled down at Harry, kissed his head and left.


	2. Chapter 2 Life

PLEASE REVIEW xxxx

I don't own anything, if I did I would be rich xxxxxx

When awoke, he had a sore neck and back, but when he noticed that dresses had been finished, his heart leapt in his chest. He got up to see the dresses, one was yellow and it was simple but elegant, it was embroidered from the right sleeve down to the waist and then flowed gently to the floor. The next one was bright pink with puffy sleeves and a corset type top and the bottom of the dress was huge. The last one was very dark blue with a high relaxed neck and short sleeves that was plain and elegant, but it had a shiny piece of fabric over the skirt.

Pinned to the blue dress, was a small note from Ginny.

_Dear Harry,_

_Sorry I was late but as you can imagine our house is even busier than usual, anyway, when I got here you were asleep and the dresses looked like they needed some help. I hope I have helped, Ron says hi. See you soon _

_Love Ginny xxxx_

Harry smiled he loved all the Weasleys, they were like a family to him, well they were certainly better than his family. It had been Molly who had taught Harry to read and write. On more than one occasion Arthur and Molly had offered to adopt Harry, but he knew how much they struggled, with Arthur owning his own business, he was away a lot. He now takes Ron with him when he goes, he used to take the twins Fred and George, but now the twins were setting up their own shop. They have promised that when they open the shop, there will be a job for Harry so he can move away from the Dursley's.

Harry pulled himself from these thoughts and started on his daily chores. He started by cooking breakfast, as he did every day, he cooked enough food to feed an army. He then went to serve this to his family but as usual, they didn't want to see him, so he went to do some of the other jobs that needed doing. Although he cleaned the entire house daily, everyday it needed doing again. This was mainly due to the fact that Petunia was a clean freak and Dudley was very good at making a mess.

So Harry got started, he cleaned the windows, it wasn't an easy job due to the size of their manor house. Once that job was done, he moved on to tidy Dudley's room. After this he prepared lunch, then dusted the whole house and cleaned the floors. He did the laundry when the weather was at its best so he could hang it outside, then while the weather was good, he would hang the washing out in the sun and then chop wood to fuel the fires.

While Harry was out chopping the logs his aunt screeched for him. "BOY, HARRY, FREAK, WHERE ARE YOU?''

Harry ran back into the house and went to find his aunt. When he found her she was in her room putting on makeup. "You wanted me?" He enquired politely. His aunt got to her feet and passed him a piece of slightly moldy bread.

''Yes, I want you to go down to the river and wash yourself, Lord Riddle is coming round and I want everything to be perfect, so off you go, but don't take too long, he will be here soon!"

With that, Harry left and headed down to the river, it was only a 10 minute walk and he wouldn't have to worry about the Dursley's for a good 30 minutes. He ate the good bit of the bread as he walked. As he got closer to the river, he saw there were people by the river. One of the people he recognized as Cedric Diggory, he was good and he had stood up for Harry when some of the local boys used to pick on him. Cedric was with his latest girlfriend Cho Chang. He knew her as her father owned a shop in town. With them was a girl with blond hair and a soft voice, he knew her by appearance but putting a name to a face was never Harry's strong point. With them was a boy with hair so blonde it was almost white and silver eyes.

Harry headed a little further up the river and started to wash himself. He loved the feeling of being clean but sadly that feeling was slightly foreign to him. As he was washing himself, he looked up to see the group had moved closer and gained an extra member, a tall, strong looking boy who Harry believed to be Blaise Zabini, although Harry had never seen him before, he had heard lots about him. With him there seemed to be another girl, this one Harry did know as she had been into town with Cedric a number of times, this was Pansy Parkinson. Although she was often stuck up and mocking towards the Weasleys, she could be nice when she wanted to. Harry could hear them all shouting and laughing and just having fun.

"Come on Luna, join in!" One of the boys shouted. _That's it_ Harry thought, the blond girl was Luna Love good. He heard them all laughing.

"No thank you." Was all Luna replied and the rest continued to play and splash around.

Suddenly Harry was drenched and started to fall. Luckily, he was caught before he fell into the river. He looked up to see that the boy with silver eyes and very blond hair had grabbed him to stop him falling. Harry quickly lowered his eyes as he had been taught to. Then the boy said in a soft, concerned voice, "Are you alright? We didn't mean for you to fall!"

"I'm fine thank you, it's not your fault, I slipped!" Harry took the blame on himself as he had been taught to.

"Are you sure Harry?" Cedric asked with concern, what Harry didn't know was they had seen some blood coming from his forehead. Nobody had seen his scar apart from the day it was made, he always covered it. "You seem to have hurt your head, Harry"

Suddenly Harry could tell why they were so worried, but it was fine, it usually bled a lot, especially when he scrubbed it. "Oh, that it's fine!" He wiped it and got up and realized the blond boy was still holding him. "Thanks, but I really must go ,Lord Riddle is going to see Petunia and she wants me there" Harry explained, but he didn't need to say any more as everyone knew about Lord Riddle and his cruelty.

"You better go then, wouldn't want to get you in trouble" Cedric replied and the blond boy let go of Harry, he smiled and then Harry ran off. Completely unaware that there was a pair of silver eyes watching him as he left.

When Harry arrived back at the house, he went down to the kitchen, and started to make the tea and find the best china.

Harry then heard the door bell, so he headed up and answered the door to Lord Riddle, who had an evil looking smile on his face. He was considered handsome by many women, until they heard the stories about him then they would stay away.

"Ah, Hello Harry" His voice was evil, you could just tell.

"Hello, sir, do come in, they are all waiting for you in the living room" Harry said in a monotonous voice. He then led the way and left very quickly.

He took his time making the tea and walking up the stairs and back to the living room. He walked in to see the usual scowls on his relative's faces and a sly smirk on Lord Riddles face.

"Harry, please re-consider my offer and come and live with me!" Harry then did something he had never done before, he spat on Lord Riddles face. Harry could see his Uncle's face going purple. He didn't dare take a look at them, he knew he was going to pay for that later. Lord Riddle didn't seem bothered, he simply took out a handkerchief and wiped his face.

"Well, then as you refuse to accept my offer, your Aunt and Uncle have already agreed for you. I would take you with me today, but I have to go and attend to some business, then there is the ball, so I will come and collect you afterwards"

"We shall be attending the ball as well, maybe we will see you there!" Petunia said in her sickly sweet voice.

"Indeed, good day to you." Then Lord Riddle got up and left.


	3. Chapter 3 An Unexpected Visitor

Harry looked at his family and they looked at him with pure venom in their eyes.

"HOW DARE YOU DO THAT TO OUR GUEST! LORD RIDDLE , OF ALL PEOPLE " His Aunt screeched at him. His Uncle's face was going a very dark shade of purple. His Uncle didn't say a word just walked up to him and grabbed him and dragged him out. Harry knew he ws about to pay for what had happened.

Vernon dragged Harry outside and didn't hold back with the whip. Harry was in agony. It felt like hours later Vernon left Harry alone and the family headed into town without Harry. Harry couldn't move without extreme pain, but he knew he would have to. He was stuggling to sit up when suddenly a pair of hands were there to help him. Harry looked up expecting to see a Weasley. But that is not what he saw. There was the boy from the river , the one with greyish blue eyes and hair so blond it was almost white. To say Harry was confused would be an understatement.

"Are you alright?" The boy asked Harry, "I saw what that fat man was doing and then he left with some others and just left you, I had to come and check you were okay"

With some help Harry was now in the sitting position. "I am fine, really you don't have to worry about me."

"I'm not leaving you , if that's what your hinting at. Let me help you"

"I should really get on I have a lot of jobs to do before my family gets back"

"There your family and they treat you like this" He idicated to Harry's back.

"Yeah, my Aunt was my mothers sister" Harry stated, he had no idea why he was telling him this, he didn't normally talk about it.

The boy realised about Harry's mother and gasped "I am so sorry. If you don't mind my asking where is your father ?"

"He died with my mother and it's alright they died when I was about 1 so it was a long time ago." The blond boy didn't know what to say he could not imagine life without his parents. "What's your name by the way?" Harry asked being careful to still sound polite.

Draco stopped for a minute and thought, he didn't really want to tell him his real name and was trying to come up with a name. He was a prince and didn't want to have another person not being his friend."Benjamin Malaroy," he suddenly said "Call me Ben, why?"

"Nice to meet you, everyone around here knows about my past and you didn't so you are not from round here. I'm Harry by the way"

"Is there a last name to go with Harry. Your right I am not from round here but I should be staying here for a while."

"Potter, Harry Potter"

"Well Potter, Harry Potter " Both smiled at this Draco thought this was the most beautiful sight in all the world. "You said you had jobs to do, let me help you, I won't take no for an answer"

Harry sighed "I give up" He then smiled again and Draco could feel his heart in his chest.

Draco helped Harry stand up and they went into the house. "What shall we do first" Draco was so hyper, he had never been allowed to do anything like this before.

"Well, I have already done the laundry and cleaned the floors and kitchen and the windows.."

"Already, what time do you get up?"

"Today I was late, I was up at 5 am but usually I have to be up at 4.30 am, on a good day."

"Ho do you do it, I struggle at 7 am, what time do you go to bed?"

"About 11.30 Pm on a good day, but with this ball coming up, I didn't make it to bed last night, I fell asleep at the kitchen table hile sewing my Aunts dresses." Draco didn't know what to say. He thought the ball was a hassle but compared to Harry he did nothing. At least he got to go to bed at night.

"So what still needs to be done?" He was trying to get back to work.

"I need to clean Dudley's room, chop the wood, cook dinner, dust the whole house, then tidy my Aunt and Uncle's room, clean out all the fire places, then I need to change all the bedding and clean the bathroom then I have to serve dinner, clean all the doorknobs, then I go to bed"

"You do all that in a day? Every day? When do you eat?" Draco asked confused.

"I have already eaten a bit of bread today, but I imagine I won't eat till the end of the week , after what I did today. I deserve to be punished, I suppose."

"What did you do?" Draco was very intriged.

"Well Lord Riddle came , you know who he is?" Draco nodded, he had vistited his home many times. "Well, he kinda wanted me to go an live with him, and.."

"And?"

"I spit in his face, and declined his offer, only to find out my Aunt and Uncle had alredy agreed. That's why I was being punished earlier when you saw me." Harry looked ashamed of what he had just said, Draco as speechless. "Well I better get on" Harry headed to the kitchen and grabbed most of the stuff he was going to need.

He went outside to start chopping the wood, Draco was following him like a shadow. "Let me do that for you." Harry didn't have chance to relpy as Draco had already took the small axe and grabbed a peice of wood. "I can do this without you over my shoulder, go inside and get you jobs done faster today."

"Sorry Ben,maybe your right."

Harry went back into the house and started on his long list of chores. After a while Draco came in and helped Harry. Harry showed Draco what to do and he went and did it.

After only an hour all the jobs were done, other than serving dinner. Draco then realised that nothing had been done about Harry's injuries. "Oh God Harry, we need to clean out your back before it get's infected, do you have any alcohol."

"Yeah there is some in the bathroom,and in my room."

"We should probably go to your room, so you can lie down for a little while" Harry nodded at what his new friend was saying. He led the way to the cupboard under the stairs, to begin with Draco was very confused until he saw the bed. He was so angry, 'How dare anybody be so cruel to my friend'. He was definitely going to have a serious talk with his parents about this kind of thing.

But right now Harry was his main focus. He helped Harry remove his shirt, he then helped Harry into a comfortable position. Then as gently as he could he wiped and cleaned each wound and every time Harry winced or hissed, he could feel his heart break just a little. His Harry shouldn't ever be in this kind of pain. As he sat there tending his friends wounds he vowed he would get even.

**Hope you enjoyed this and I would really love some reviews xxx **


	4. Chapter 4

"Have you heard the news dear?" Vernon said as he kissed his wife when he came home.

"No, I have been at home all day. What news?" Petunia asked and thought carefully about what her husband would be talking about. They never talked about the news, unless it was some juicy gossip or might affect her or her precious Dudley.

"The ball has been cancelled"

"WHAT!"

"That's, what I thought dear, apparently the Prince went missing and the ball has been cancelled until further notice."

"So the ball will happen?" Her husband nodded and she let out a breath she did not realise she had been holding. "That means we have more time to get ready for the ball." She decided and left the room to go and improve her plans for the ball with all this added time.

Meanwhile...

"Please Father cancel this ball and we can have another one another time. I am not ready to marry" Prince Draco was again begging with his father.

"When I was you age I was planning my wedding to your mother" Draco rolled his eyes at his fathers statement, he always said the same thing.

"You know you need to get married darling, me and your father aren't going to be around forever" His mother added kindly.

"Alright, I know all this. But I don't think I am ready yet, can we at least pros pone it?"

"And what would we tell everyone?" His father asked

"I don't know, tell them I am missing or something. Be inventive." Draco suggested.

"Why have you suddenly decided to pros pone the ball?" His mother asked.

"You know, we discussed that girls weren't catching my eye" His parents nodded "Well, I saw a boy who took my breathe away and I want to know if he likes me for me and I want to get to know him better" He looked up and saw his parents smiling, even Severus was smiling and that never happened.

"Who's the lucky boy?" Narcissa said in the most cheerful voice Draco and Severus (even Lucius ) had ever heard.

"Harry, Harry Potter" All the adults stared at him in shock, and Draco found this rather creepy and slightly terrifying. No one said anything "Well, I'm going out" He said after a while, the creepy silence was a bit much for him, he would much rather be spending his time with Harry.

Petunia had taken the two Dursley men out into town and left Harry with another long list of chores. Harry was out tending to the garden, he wanted to get this job done before it got too hot. He was already in pain, as he hadn't fully recovered from the other day.

As he looked up as he could see a shadow on the ground next to him. There was his new friend, it seemed like his only friend, he hadn't seen any of the Weasley's in what felt like ages but it was probably only about a week. Ben (Draco) had come to see him again, and yet again he had chores to do. He probably didn't want to help him again, he probably only helped last time because he pitied him.

Harry didn't want pity, he had, had more than enough charity in his life.

"Hey" Was all Ben (Draco) said. "What you doing? More chores!" When he realised Harry had even more chores he was very angry and things were going to change for Harry very soon.

"Yeah, I have loads of chores again, like everyday. Anyway what are you doing here?"

"I thought you might like some help again, also I want to check your wounds and I er kinda wanttospendsometimewithyou" He blurted out.

Harry was very confused by that , once he worked out what Ben (Draco) had said. Why would anybody want to spend time with him? He was just a useless,unlovable freak. However when he told that to Ben (Draco), his friend burst out shouting " HOW DARE THEY TELL YOU THAT! Do you actually think and believe that?" When Harry nodded " HOW DARE THEY! Harry, listen to me ,you are definitely not useless and you are most certainly not an unlovable freak. Understand?" Harry looked bewildered at that, and Ben (Draco) could see it was going to take him some time. "Let's get your jobs done shall we?" Without waiting for an answer Ben (Draco) started to help with the gardening.

That day all of Harry's chores were finished in half the time it usually took. As Harry's family was out they had the house and the rest of the day to them selves.

Before they did anything, Ben (Draco) wanted to make sure Harry was healing properly. Harry had failed to tell Ben (Draco) that he had been punished again, this time Ben (Draco) was livid, and looked like he was ready to kill the Dursley's. But Harry's very soft whimper brought him back to reality. He was a Malfoy, which means plan and attack when they least expect it.

They spent the rest of the day chatting and talking and laughing and having fun, they were getting to know each other. That's when Draco decided once and for all he knew who he wanted to marry : his precious Harry. This was love, no getting around it.

After Ben (Draco) had left Harry felt better than he could remember, even better than watching the Weasley twins pranking people.

Harry was still in shock that his friend cared so much about him.

"Darling, did he say Harry Potter?" Narcissa asked her husband.

"I think so" Was all he could reply

"But that's not possible he's ..." Narcissa was cut off by Draco asking.

"He's what Mother?"

"Draco, darling what do you know of the Potters"

"Nothing, I think"

"Severus, do you want to tell him?" Narcissa asked sounding rather distressed.

"No, not really" After receiving some sharps glares he continued "But I will if you want me to." Narcissa nodded, so Severus told Draco " Long ago, I went to Hogwarts school, like your parents before it was destroyed a long time ago, well in my year there were 2 people. One was Lily Evans, she was my best friend, and her boyfriend , James Potter."Draco kept nodding to show he understood "Well not long after they finished school they got married and had a child.."

"Harry" Draco said and Severus nodded.

"Lord and Lady Potter , but they were both killed when Harry was barely one. He was sent to live with his aunt and uncle and cousin. But after a few years they said he was a sickly child who had died."

"But he's not dead, and his family hate him. They beat him, I saw it my self"

"WHAT!" Severus seemed to have let his emotions get the better of him.

"Severus calm down" Lucius shouted at his friend.

"What's wrong with him?"Draco asked his parents referring to Severus.

Narcissa looked at her husband and at his nod said "Well, Draco you see Severus was Harry Potter's Godfather"

"Is" Corrected Draco, his mother merely nodded.

"Well in Lily's will she wanted Harry to go to Severus, but at the time there was a man in charge who didn't understand the world and so was , well anyway, Albus Dumbledore gave Harry to his relatives and not to Severus. They made it publicly known that they didn't want the child, but agreed to take him on because they got a house. But they said when he was about 5 he died."

"Well they lied!" Draco was now very angry. "I'll take you to see him my self"

"That is not going to happen, you can't just turn up to the house and accuse them, how about we get some proof before we go?"

"How about some one talks to the family at the ball?" With that Draco just left the room.

As all of the them were Slytherin so Draco had no doubt that the Harry soon would have a much happier life, and also if Severus got chance some people are going to be very sorry.


	5. Chapter 5 A day in Town

**A/N I hope you all enjoy this Chapter, but due to being busy over Christmas I don't think I will be writing again til next year. So to all : Have a Merry Christmas and A Happy New Year xxx I hope you see you all in the new year xxx **

Harry's Petunia was running around the house like a mad woman. The ball was back on again and she only had a few days to get everything ready, so she went on a hunt for Harry.

Yet again Harry was doing his chores, when his Aunt came to find him in the garden "Are you still out here you lazy little freak? Well get up, I need to go into town, and I am going to need you to come too unfortunately to carry the shopping. You can walk and meet me outside the cafe when you get there. What are you waiting for off you go!" His Aunt walked away. When she was gone Harry let out a sigh of relief, he could take as long as he wanted. His family had never walked to town so did not know how long it takes. That means he can go and find the Weasley's and have some fun. He then set off towards town thinking about the fun he was going to have. Until his Aunt finds him anyway.

Meanwhile...

Prince Draco was not having fun, he was on Prince Duty. He was being forced to go around town with Pansy, although they were friends, everyone expected them to get married. Although it was obvious to anyone they weren't in love. Pansy liked Blaise and Blaise liked Pansy. Anyway most people knew that Draco was gay. Yet they still expected him to get engaged to Pansy.

The pair were walking around town and many of the shops were offering free gifts and that really annoyed Draco. He was rich so he could afford to buy it where as the poor people who couldn't afford it got nothing and often went hungry.

The pair continued to walk until the pair spotted Blaise in the distance. Draco kissed Pansy on the cheek and told her to go and see him. Draco continued to walk through town, everyone knew it was him due to his abnormal hair colour that he had hated most of his life.

He went and changed into his scruffy clothes (he had found them while he went to see Harry everyday but had never worn them before but he always had them on him) , he then rubbed some soot into his hair and continued to go around town. It was almost amazing how fast people change. Before they would move out of his way and give him stuff for free now they were pushing him around and being rude and although he probably shouldn't admit it he loved this more.

He continued to go around town as was most definitely bored, he noticed Blaise and Pansy walking around. He could see the look of pure love in their eyes, that's all he wanted. He had already given them his blessing , as had his parents.

He then noticed Him, from a distance. It was his Harry, who was very much alive. Before he was fully aware of what he was doing he had wondered over to Harry. That's when Draco realised that Harry might not recognise him.

Harry at this point was being weighed down by the many parcels his Aunt had got which included: 2 new hats for everyone and new outfits and some treats for her precious Dudley, to name just a few.

His Aunt had now gone into one of the more expensive shops and she had told Harry he could head home as this would be delivered. But Harry didn't go home he went down to the part of the town where his Aunt would never go. Harry was very glad that the Weasley's shop was in this part of town. That's when Harry noticed some one who looked familiar but different. Harry thought he was imagining it, he did things like that all the time, so he continued to walk but he took the long way.

As the stranger got nearer and although Harry was sure he recognised him. Maybe he was related to someone Harry had seen around town.

Harry plucked up his courage and turned to see that this person had the same beautiful grey eyes that Ben had. Maybe this boy was related to Ben. "Hey" was all Harry said.

But it was enough to make Draco's heart soar,the fact that Harry recognised him was enough to make Draco happy enough to forget the ball was back on. "Hey Harry" Was all Draco could manage to say. Harry smiled obviously realising he did know who it was and wasn't going mad.

Harry realised that Ben had obviously got soot in his hair, now their hair matched.

"How are you today?" Harry asked politely.

"Good thanks you?" Draco replied happily

"Good thanks a bit tired but good"

"No wonder your tired look at everything you are carrying I can hardly see you. Here let me help" Draco started to take some of the parcels and caused Harry to drop the rest.

"Oh no! My Aunt is going to kill me." Harry said in a panicked voice, as he bent down to pick them up and out of the mud as quick as possible. Draco helped him. "I better set off home, it's going to take me ages with all of this". Harry left Draco standing there.

But Draco was not being left behind. So he ran after Harry. "Hey Harry wait up, how about I help you carry this home and then that way I can help you out and keep our conversation going." Harry was about to try and argue otherwise when he sneeze and almost lost the parcels again. But this time Draco caught them. "Come on, Harry. I'm not taking 'No' for an answer." Draco and Harry had half the parcels each and where walking and talking like they had known each other for years.

They were both laughing at stories Harry was telling about the Weasley twins and Draco decided he really wanted to meet them. Although Draco was now worried about Harry's health, as he was looking rather pale and he kept coughing and sneezing.

The pair walked all the way home, unaware that they had been seen in town by 3 people.

Molly Weasley loved Harry like a son, and she was both happy and sad. She was so happy that Harry had another friend and she recognised the look they both had in their eyes: love. Yet she was sad because she knew how Ginny felt about Harry.

Ginny had seen them and she was devastated, all these years she had loved Harry and he goes off with the first guy he sees.

Petunia Dursley had also seen them.


End file.
